1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a terminal connecting structure in which each of contact portions of a plurality of terminals mutually slides and is brought into contact with each other.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a structure for connecting terminals of connectors to each other, a structure in which a first contact portion of a first terminal and a second contact portion of a second terminal mutually slide and are brought into contact with each other has been proposed. When a connector having this structure is used in an environment with vibration, thermal shock, a temperature humidity cycle and the like, the first terminal and the second terminal slightly slides with respect to each other, and this slight sliding causes chipping of surface plated layers (tinning, for example) of the first contact portion and the second contact portion, and abrasion powders are generated. If the abrasion powders are present between the first contact portion and the second contact portion, contact resistance increases.
When a contact load between the first contact portion and the second contact portion is large (4.0 N, for example), a slight sliding distance between the first contact portion and the second contact portion is kept short, and an abrasion powder amount generated by the slight sliding can be kept small.
However, with recent size reduction of connectors, when the contact load between the first contact portion and the second contact portion becomes small (1.0 N or less, for example), the slight sliding distance between the first contact portion and the second contact portion becomes large, and the abrasion powder amount generated by the slight sliding increases, which lowers durability of a terminal.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2000-188028 proposes a terminal connecting structure for solving the above described problem. FIG. 6 illustrates this contact connecting structure. The contact connecting structure of Patent Literature 1 has a movable terminal 50 and a fixed terminal 60. The movable terminal 50 has an arc-shaped movable contact portion 51. The fixed terminal 60 has a fixed contact portion 61 on which the movable contact portion 51 slides. A sliding surface of the fixed contact portion 61 has a plurality of grooves 62. The grooves 62 extend along a sliding direction (terminal moving direction) S and are formed at intervals.
In the above configuration, during connection or slight sliding of the terminal, the contact portion 51 of the movable terminal 50 slides on the fixed contact portion 61 of the fixed terminal 60. When abrasion powders are generated in this process, the abrasion powders move with movement of the movable contact portion 51 and a part of them enters the grooves 62. As a result, an amount of the abrasion powders present between the movable contact portion 51 and the fixed contact portion 61 can be reduced, and an increase of contact resistance can be suppressed.